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Moruga cries neglect Residents stage fiery protest

Member of Parliament for Moruga/Tableland Clifton De Coteau has called for patience from residents of La Lune who staged a fiery protest yesterday morning over deplorable road conditions in the constituency. De Coteau said the roads, which were inundated with landslips, would be fixed. Residents, who say they are fed up with empty promises, took matters into their own hands yesterday to draw national focus to their situation after parts of the road collapsed.

They said not only bad roads but rotting bridges and lack of public utilities, including water, continued to make their lives miserable. Before dawn, residents piled debris across the road, making the main thoroughfare impassable. Under the eyes of policemen, who came in at least three vehicles, the residents burned tyres, logs and scrap material. The Fire Services were called in to extinguish the fire but not before the situation caused a traffic pile-up.

Representative for the area, Councillor Jayann Graham, said the situation was life-threatening. She said the road had been in a state of disrepair for too long and attempts to get relevant authorities to repair the road have fallen on deaf ears. She charged De Coteau, who is also the Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, of doing nothing to improve the infrastructure in the constituency.

“The road, which is directly opposite the beach, is dangerous. It is a hazard to the residents and if it continues to cave in then we can brace for bad accidents,” Graham added. She questioned whether they were being politically discriminated against. In response, De Coteau said over the years he had been writing letters to various ministers of works to tackle the problems. He said two former ministers—Jack Warner and his successor Emmanuel George—visited the area and promised to help.

De Coteau added he had also brought the situation to the attention of the current Works Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan who was working on resolving the situation, which, he said, was costly.